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Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Case Dropped Against Lee and Ford

Posted
on Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 4:00 AM

The government's losing streak in local corruption cases
has grown to two now, with a surprise announcement Tuesday afternoon from the
U.S. Attorney's office that it is dropping its case against city councilman
Edmund Ford and former MLGW head Joseph Lee. The two faced bribery and extortion
charges relating to favors allegedly done Ford by Lee acting in his official
capacity.

The case was based on the well-publicized fact of Ford's
having amassed significant unpaid utility bills for his funeral home at a time
when, as a councilman, he had oversight capacity over MLGW. Only last month,
Ford was acquitted by a jury of bribery and extortion charges relating to the
acceptance of cash from FBI informant Joe Cooper pertaining to a zoning case.

The statement from Lawrence J. Laurenzi, acting U.S.
Attorney, reads as follow:

STATEMENT REGARDING DISMISSAL OF
CASE AGAINST

EDMUND FORD AND JOSEPH LEE

MEMPHIS, TN-Lawrence
J. Laurenzi, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee
announced today that the
United States of America has made a motion to the District Court to dismiss the
case of US v Edmund Ford and Joseph
Lee. The Government
has re-evaluated the case and stated to the Court that a dismissal is warranted
in the Interest of Justice.

This was the government's motion for dismissal:

IN
THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR
THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
WESTERN DIVISION

*

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,

*

vs.
No. 08-20001-Ma

EDMUND H. FORD,
JOSEPH LEE, III, *
Defendants. *

MOTION TO DISMISS INDICTMENT

COMES NOW the United States of America through the undersigned attorneys to move
thisHonorable Court to DISMISS the above-numbered indictment as to both
defendants.

The Government has re-evaluated the case and states to the Court that a
dismissal is warranted in the Interest of Justice.

The undersigned counsel for the Government advised counsel for the defendants
(Michael E. Scholl, Esq. for Mr. Ford and Robert L. J. Spence, Jr., Esq. for Mr.
Lee) of this motion, and they advised that they did not object to it.

Based on the foregoing, the Government asks the Court to grant this unopposed
motion.

Respectfully submitted,

LAWRENCE J. LAURENZI

Acting United States Attorney

By:
s/ Thomas A. Colthurst
Assistant U.S. Attorney

s/ Lawrence J. Laurenzi
Assistant U.S. Attorney

#
18324 - Tennessee # 009529 - Tennessee

167
N. Main Street, 8th Floor 167 N. Main Street, 8th
Floor

Memphis, Tennessee 38103 Memphis, Tennessee 38103

(901) 544-4231 (901) 544-4231

Tom.colthurst@usdoj.gov Larry.Laurenzi@usdoj.gov

Case 2:08-cr-20001-SHM
Document 29 Filed
06/24/2008 Page 2 of 3

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I,
Thomas A. Colthurst, Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District
of
Tennessee, hereby certify that copies of the foregoing MOTION TO DISMISS
INDICTMENT have been e-mailed or mailed, first class postage pre-paid, to the
following counsel for the defendants: